One courageous gardener is getting quite the buzz lately about his movement to encourage what the next U.S. president should grow food on the White House lawn. To see what this is all about, watch the Eat the View video. Director, Roger Doiron provides facts about the lawn space around the White House, most noteably that it consists of 18 acres and at one time was farm land. I wondered exactly how much food could be produced on that 18 acres if it were all converted to crops, how many mouths would that feed, and what would be the total health benefit on the community for such an endeavor? Well, of course this would be a beneficial project!
But, the details would require some new math. In calculating the production of one acre I decided to use spinach as an example. As an aside: the benefits of increasing our daily intake of leafy greens are endless!
To get started: how much nutrition is in one acre of organically grown spinach? The actual amounts vary depending on which farming practice is employed. According to a 2006 trial based at Cornell University, the average marketable yield of organically grown spinach per acre was about 9,600 lbs. The average serving size of fresh spinach is 1.5 cups (approx. 12 oz.). Therefore, if the Cornell conditions apply, one acre of spinach yields 12,800 servings.
If the presidential family were to farm spinach on their 18 acres around the White House, they could provide roughly 2560 people with 5 servings of fresh spinach. This would meet the Food and Drug Administration’s guidelines for eating ‘5-a-day’ for health. Imagine providing all the students in our local high schools with this wonderful bounty. Thankfully for our future president, a few Portland-based groups, like Ecotrust, are already putting the ideas of education and food in the minds and mouths of hungry school children… AND with tremendous success!
What’s more, the White House lawn is up for auction! Kitchen Gardeners International developed a fund raising program by auctioning 1′x1′ virtual parcels of White House lawn. Interested in buying your own parcel? Check out Eat the View, a non-profit look at transforming politically flavored green spaces.